Customer Reviews

The Best of Mister Ed: Volume 1

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I always enjoyed Mister Ed and am glad it came out on dvd. Its wel packaged. Hope the other seaons come out too. Its a great classic show for the whole fmaily

I remember lovingly watching Mr Ed when I was young, although not a small child, in the 60's, so I thought I would buy this DVD when I heard it was coming out. I was expecting to find something perhaps childish and a little corny, but to my surprise, it's very funny--in fact, it holds up very well and is quite entertaining for everyone, not just the kids. Actually Ed can be quite frisky. The comedy is great for all the family, but I have to admit the show is always at it's best when Mr Ed is in the scene. It loses something when there is too much human enteraction and Ed is out of the picture. Mr Ed was truly one of a kind and that voice fit him perfectly. A still delightful and charming show.

If you like/love Mister Ed, you won't be disappointed when you don't experience difficulty with the DVDs.

This DVD is NOT for a child to handle as it is double-sided. Please read the review from Kirland. I totally agree with this person.

I still love watching the approximately 10 episodes that I can view at this time. Thanks.

Mr. Ed is simply one of the greatest and oddest shows of any time period. I'm 31 years old, and obviously didn't see the show when it originally aired. Yet, during many nights of insomnia I would tune into TV Land each night and try to fall asleep to classics like Dick Van Dyke Show, All In The Family or Andy Griffith. All decent shows, but they've been shown to death over the past 20 years. Around 3a.m. or so, Mr. Ed came on, and instead of falling asleep, I found myself sitting up straight on my couch and laughing out loud at this show. Yes, its stupid, and I semi-remember seeing it as a child in reruns, but it never "stuck", and I guess its because its not a children's show. There's nothing "rated R" or anything, but just because it has a talking animal don't make it Disney. The horse (and its never-credited voice artist) make the perfect character. Its not a "cute" show, cuz Ed is a spoiled brat (er, horse) and just lives to screw up Wilbur's life and marriage. (His wife is gorgeous, although she's now about 70. But if your wife is now gorgeous, she will one day be 70 as well. Knock on wood.) It's surreal, because no ever ever accidentally stumbles onto Ed & Wilbur's talks....when they did, they only heard Wilbur, and never Ed's deep Johnny-Cash baritone. (I bet that the classic intro "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash" was influenced by "Hello, I'm Mister Ed".) It was groundbreakingly surreal for its time becasue to my knowledge, there was no final apisode where Mrs. Post found out that the horse talked....There was no sense of closure. And even better, there was no episode that explained why or how Ed could talk. It was all left up in the air, just a simple premise thatmade for some hysterically funny viewing.
For beginners, don't question the show...just watch at least 4 episodes before judging it. You'll see the close (and believable) bond between Wilbur & Ed unfold,which is more real than with his wife or his screwy neighbors (both pairs). The neighbors are good characters, kinda cliche' for TV neighbors, but not at the time since TV was still a young'un. The neighbors are still funnier than "The Mertzes".
So 5-Stars for the show, but only 3-stars for the DVD. It seems they don't care much for Mr. Ed, cuz its only a "Best of". I wouldn't count on them releasing any more on DVD. (What would they call it, "The Lesser Episodes"?), so be content with what we have available. Its sad, cuz I just read where "Punky Brewster Season 1" is coming to DVD.. how does that show merit a full-season disc, when Mr. Ed is compiled into a "best of"? And its not even all of the best ones. The whole Wilbur/Ed Spy-ring episodes are not on here. (When Ed becomes secret agent "Oat-Oat-Seven". Its funnier than it sounds when it comes from (ugh) the horse's mouth.
So kudos to everyone involved in the show (not the DVD) By far my favorite show of the 60's. And its now 3rd on my all-time favorite comedy list (#1:Newhart, #2:Soap)

I love watching Mister Ed. It brings me back to when I was just a small child and things were not like today! Doors could be left unlock - neighbor spoke to each other -- not like now. Plus I love then and still love now animals shows best!

I wished that they picked an unknown name with a good radio voice to play Mister Ed's new voice in stead of Sherman Helmsley as the voice of Mister Ed in the the series I here is coming to TV.

The show gets top marks but the DVD lacks alot and is simply the early episodes not in any particular order presented in a standard sleeve.You may as well tape them off the cable reruns
It is very frustrating when fans are clammering for extra information on their favorite TV shows and MGM can't provide some extras such as bloopers(now they would be funny)interviews, behind the scenes,biographies etc.
Other annoyances are double sided DVDs-they are a pain but I accept them for packaging purposes.Also spare a thought for us poor folk outside the USA who have to contend with the region restrictions placed on this video-luckily I could find a DVD player that played all formats.

This show was a few years before my time, but I caught several episodes in re-runs as a kid and loved it. I recall the show being funny, but I didn't appreciate its heartwarming charm until now. Today's TV moguls would have us believe that if a show didn't have violence, sex, trechery, non-stop action or overly intricate plots, it's junk. But shows like this one from yesterday, show that just the opposite is true. A premise as seemingly goofy as a talking horse, when properly staffed with endearing actors and imaginative writing put character in to the characters.

I've been watching these as I unwind at night, and there's just something so calming about these shows. First, the black and white is visually soothing, while being still vivid. Second, the infectiously playful music keeps me humming and smiling. Finally, the characters and wonderfully silly stories make all the day's trivial troubles melt away.

As for the quality of the sound and picture, I have NO qualms. In fact, I'm very pleased. The film is 100% restored, but nothing that jumps out at me except in the dark portions between scenes, and really, who cares then? Actually, it gives it a bit of aged character-- there's that word again!

As for those bemoaning that it wasn't released as a complete season, I agree, but then again, it's not really that big of a deal. There will be a Vol 2 and most likely a 3rd and 4th, so as long as all the episodes come out in nice packages like this one, with no overlap, I'll more than survive.

I loved Mr. Ed as a child and I haven't seen any re-runs since. I watched the pilot episode on this DVD set last night. It was still funny after all these years, and it looked awesome compared with the way it looked on the vacuum-tube round-screen televisions of the 1960's.

The problems are:

1. Double sided DVDs. I hate that! These are much easier to damage than single sided ones. I can't even tell one side from the other. Hold them up to a bright light and each side looks the same. Fine print in the center doesn't even tell me which side is which. And they are much more vulnerable to finger prints getting on the data medium. This is bad.

2. Overview of three years instead of just doing seasons in order like some of the other great sit-coms of that era. Let's just have seasons one through three in turn and let ME decide what the best episodes are! I would gladly pay the price of this set three times to get the entire series. Us baby-boomers have the extra cash, remember?

3. How about a bonus feature or two? Maybe an interview with someone having something to do with the show? Anything? (Still, a minor concern of mine next to having all the episodes properly packaged.)

So, this set is something good that could have been a lot better. A mediocre treatment of a great show.

I love Mister Ed and remember watching the show as a very small child in the early 1960's. My only complaint is why MGM didn't just release the entire First Season, as they did with Green Acres. As someone else said in their review, this would have given those who had never seen the show or didn't remember much about it a chance to watch the characters and the storyline develop. This is why I only rate these DVDs three stars. The show itself gets five stars from me, otherwise. It is one of my very favorite shows of all-time. They will never be able to do it justice or come anywhere near to recapturing the wonderful flavor of the original show or the innocence and simplicity of it's era, if the rumors of a movie and a new series are true. Besides, to me, the First Season had many of the best episodes, as is often true of most shows. It is strange that it is called Volume One, as well. Especially when it does seem that MGM has basically offered here, just an overview of the series, populated mainly with episodes featuring appearances by well-known stars. A pity, it should have been better. Hopefully, more will be forthcoming. I guess in the meantime that any Mister Ed is better than none. Also wondering why only 21 episodes of Mister Ed when MGM offers the entire First Season of Green Acres (32 episodes) for the same price?? Hmmmm............

I've been a huge fan of Mr.Ed for a couple years and i'm very glad that they released it on DVD.This has got some of the funniest episodes of Mr.Ed ever and it was great value costing me only $25.All the episodes are A's,my favorite being Clint
Eastwood meets Mr.Ed.The only thing that was bad about it was the fact that there are no bonus features at all,no interviews with Alan Young or Connie Hines,nor a single thing that mentions who the voice of Mister Ed was(it was Allan Lane,famous for old cowboy movies),but the DVD is good anyway,I hope that they will release The Best of Volume 2 sometime.The episodes are hilarious and this is great value.A+.Enjoy!!!